The Walters Shoals is a group of submerged mountains off the coast of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. The shoals are south of Cape Sainte Marie -

and east of

Richards Bay Richards Bay () is a city in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is situated on a 30 square kilometre lagoon of the Mhlatuze River, which makes it one of the country's largest harbours. Richards Bay also has the deepest natural harbour on the Africa ...

at the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n coast. The tips of some of the mountains are only below the surface. The Walters Shoals is home to many species of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks and is considered as a Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area. Groups of Barau's petrel (''

Pterodroma baraui Barau's petrel (''Pterodroma baraui'') is a medium-sized gadfly petrel from the family (biology), family Procellariidae. Its main breeding site is the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. Etymology The name commemorates Armand Barau, an agric ...

'') forage the area during their breeding season. It was discovered in 1963 by the South African Hydrographic Frigate SAS ''Natal'' captained by Cmdr Walters. When found it had a huge population of

Galápagos shark The Galapagos shark (''Carcharhinus galapagensis'') is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, found worldwide. It favors clear reef environments around oceanic islands, where it is often the most abundant shark species. A large ...

s but they have since been fished out.

References

Indian Ocean Seamounts of the Indian Ocean Landforms of Madagascar Former islands from the last glacial maximum {{marine-geo-stub